Southeast Washington, January 13-16, 2012 Field Trip Report
Seven intrepid birders from western Washington joined me on
my second annual trip to the ?Banana Belt? of Washington State.? The weather was great with mainly dry weather
with a few snow showers on Sunday and a bit of wind on Monday.? The group experienced some hardships
including a flat tire and food poisoning on Friday the 13th.? Although we did not find any bananas in the
wild, we did find a lot of great birds in the some of the more difficult
counties to bird.? Here is a day by day
summary of the trip:
Friday, January 13 ? Asotin County
We started the day out at Swallows Park in Clarkston.? Here we found the usual assortment of
waterfowl including CANADA GOOSE, AMERICAN WIGEON, MALLARD, RING-NECKED DUCK,
and BUFFLEHEAD.? Of note, was that the
number of American Wigeon was dramatically small as compared to previous
years.? The star of the show was present
as well to the delight of the group as we all were able to view the continuing
SANDHILL CRANE near the boat launch.? We
could not relocate the LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL that I had found the day
before.
We then continued south through the town of Asotin, where we
easily found MOURNING DOVE and the ever increasing EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE.? At the Asotin Slough HMU, we found the area
to be alive with DOWNY WOODPECKER, NORTHERN FLICKER, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE,
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, SONG SPARROW, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, HOUSE FINCH, and
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH.? A lively CANYON WREN
was calling from a rocky area between the houses on hill to the west.? A COOPER?S HAWK passed through the area as
well.? Just south of here along Snake
River Road, we stopped to bird a thicket of trees along the river, when we were
attracted to the rock face behind us by a singing CANYON WREN.? Then we found a small flock of feeding
finches and with the sun just right the greenish-yellow breasts of several LESSER
GOLDFINCH stood out allowing us to dream of bananas.? A calling SAY?S PHOEBE was hidden somewhere
on the rock face as well.
Further south at Three Mile Rapids, we scoped the gulls
resting on the gravel bar and found RING-BILLED and three HERRING GULLS.? Acting as sentry, an adult BALD EAGLE was
perched on an utility pole here, too.? A
BELTED KINGFISHER was patrolling the river while we were looking at the gulls.
Climbing the grade up on Weissenfells Road, we encountered a
flock of CHUKAR in the road for all to see.? Getting close to the top, our excitement grew as we entered the
Gyr-zone.? Luckily, just past the farm at
the top of the grade, sitting on a low fence post about 100 yards out from us,
was the previously reported gray-phase GYRFALCON.? What a beautiful bird!? HORNED LARK, NORTHERN SHRIKE, NORTHERN HARRIER,
RED-TAILED HAWK, AMERICAN KESTREL, and COMMON RAVEN all were present in the
area also.? As we headed west on
Montgomery Ridge Road, the raptor concentration switched to ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS
as they seemed to be everywhere.? And then
just about as all hope had been lost as we could not locate any redpolls, we
stumbled upon a good sized flock of BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS at the last residence
before hitting the highway.
Field Springs State Park was quiet with a constant wind
blowing through the trees.? We did manage
to hear a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH while the group was enjoying the warmth of the
restrooms in the park.? On the road
outside the park next to the farms, we were glad to find many WILD TURKEYS as
their tracks were everywhere in the snow.
An extensive search of the Anatone Flats failed to turn up a
Snowy Owl for our group.? So we headed
back to town and stopped at the slough by the mouth of Asotin Creek and found
GREEN-WINGED TEAL and HOODED MERGANSER in the unfrozen water.? A last ditch effort back at Swallows Park
turned up no odd gulls but RING-BILLED, CALIFORNIA, and HERRING were all
present including a few NORTHERN PINTAIL and a flyover PRAIRE FALCON.
At the cliffs just west of Clarkston on Highway 12, we
arrived in time to find several GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCHES coming in to roost
for the night.? On the previous day, a
PEREGRINE FALCON and SHARP-SHINNED HAWK were both hunting the finches, but alas
they failed to appear for the group.? A
quick stop at the Evans Road wetland produced a couple of vocal VIRGINIA RAILS.
Saturday, January 14 ? Asotin and Garfield Counties
On Saturday, we moved westward stopping at Chief Timothy
Park before entering Garfield County.? Here we found HORNED GREBE, RING-NECKED PHEASANT, HERRING GULL, AMERICAN
COOT, and a MARSH WREN.
Reaching Alpowa Summit, we headed north along Ledgerwood
Road and quickly found both RED-TAILED and ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, ROCK PIGEON, COMMON
RAVEN, HORNED LARK, and EURASIAN STARLING.? We toured Valentine Ridge Road from here only picking up RING-NECKED
PHEASANT, AMERICAN KESTREL, and DARK-EYED JUNCO as new birds for the day.? Along Eisenjohn Road, we found a couple spots
along the road that had a heavy concentration of birds including NORTHERN
SHRIKE, SONG SPARROW, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, HOUSE SPARROW, HOUSE FINCH, PINE
SISKIN, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, DOWNY WOODPECKER, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, and
CALIFORNIA QUAIL.
We then headed southeast toward Lower Granite Dam along
Kirby-Mayview Road, where we found NORTHERN HARRIER, BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE, and
some singing RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS.? Down
along the Snake River at the Lambi Recreation Area, we spotted BUFFLEHEAD,
COMMON GOLDENEYE, HORNED GREBE, DOUBLE-CRESTED COMORANT, BALD EAGLE, MALLARD,
BEWICK?S WREN, and a HERRING GULL closer to the dam.? The dam area was quiet except for a lone
female COMMON MERGANSER.? Behind the dam,
we traveled up the short lower end of Wawawai Grade Road and found a
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET to add to the day.? Heading back along the river and up out of the canyon, we found HOODED
MERGANSER and a COOPER?S HAWK.
Back on top, we cut across westward on East Lynn Gulch Road,
finding a nice wet area near the end of the road that yielded WILSON?S SNIPE
and AMERICAN ROBIN.? We traveled further
west on Washboard Road which is actually pretty smooth and then dropped down to
Rice Bar HMU.? New birds here included
AMERICAN COOT and PIED-BILLED GREBE.? A
walk in the trees at Lower Deadman Creek produced PACIFIC WREN and GREAT HORNED
OWL.? Several RED-TAILED HAWKS were
soaring above the area here as was seen in the previous year.? As the light was waning away, at the top of
the ridge between Central Ferry and Dodge near Kuhl Ridge, was an adult GOLDEN
EAGLE not making any progress in flying due to the wind.
Sunday, January 15 ? Columbia County
Sunday started off with an extensive search of Lewis and
Clark State Park.? We found nearly 30
species here including GREAT HORNED OWL, WILD TURKEY, HAIRY WOODPECKER, BROWN
CREEPER, VARIED THRUSH, PINE SISKIN, and a heard only WHITE-THROATED
SPARROW.? Next, we visited the town of
Dayton, where we quickly found a TOWNSEND?S SOLITAIRE in a city park with a lot
of Juniper trees.? Searching the town, we
did not find any waxwings, but gladly took EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE as a consolation.
A trip down Tucannon River Road to near its end at the
Wooten Wildlife Area, produced GREAT BLUE HERON, AMERICAN CROW, DOWNY
WOODPECKER, CANYON WREN, BEWICK?S WREN, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, and another
TOWNSEND?S SOLITAIRE.? All the lakes in
the Wildlife Area were frozen over.? On
Highway 261, headed towards the town of Starbuck, we stopped at a farm near
mile marker 6 to view the ?duck-hole.?? This stop did not disappoint as we found hundreds of MALLARD, plus a few
AMERICAN WIGEON, RING-NECKED DUCK, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, and NORTHERN
PINTAIL.? A juvenile GOLDEN EAGLE soared
over us here, too.? In Starbuck proper,
we found MOURNING DOVE, more COLLARED DOVES, HOUSE SPARROW, DARK-EYED JUNCO,
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, CALIFORNIA QUAIL, HOUSE FINCH, REB-BREASTED NUTHATCH,
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, and NORTHEN FLICKER.? A lively debate ensued after finding some Jungle Fowl as whether or not
we could count them, but sanity prevailed and we returned to searching for
bananas.
The Tucannon River mouth graced us with some hard to find in
Columbia county birds.? Mainly, REDHEAD,
AMERICAN COOT, and HOODED MERGANSER were the stars of the show here.? We then streaked toward Little Goose Dam and
made a quick stop at Texas Rapids HMU finding NORTHERN SHRIKE, BUFFLEHEAD, and
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH.? Stopping along the
cliffs near the dam, we found GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH, EURASIAN STARLING, and
the properly named ROCK PIGEON.? We then
cut south on Riveria Road as the daylight faded away flushing several HORNED
LARK off the road and spotting a single SHORT-EARED OWL on a post.
Monday, January 16 ? Walla Walla County
Acting on the Dennys? report of redpolls on 9 Mile Canyon
Road, we struck out west from Walla Walla and made our way to the canyon.? Up and down we drove this road, but only
found just a few COMMON REDPOLLS in the weedy ditch.? Yet, we found other birds including AMERICAN
KESTREL, BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE, NORTHERN FLICKER, HORNED LARK, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK,
CANADA GOOSE, NORTHERN HARRIER, and two SAVANNAH SPARROWS.? Then we found Mike and MerryLynn and a whole
caravan of birders from the neighborhood.? No massive flock of redpolls in the morning, but GRAY PARTRIDGE and WESTERN
MEADOWLARK were found.
Going our separate ways, we headed west and stopped at the
overlook of Madame Dorian Park and found GREEN-WINGED TEAL and DUNLIN on the
frozen pond below.? The Walla Walla River
Delta was partially frozen, but we managed to see more hundreds of DUNLIN,
NORTHERN PINTAIL, and lots of gulls way out.? When one is in this area, you cannot bypass the Poop Piles, so we
stopped and found a great assortment of gulls including THAYER?S, GLAUCOUS-WINGED,
HERRING, AND RING-BILLED.? Also, here
were BREWER?S BLACKBIRDS and several corvids.? At the Two Rivers HMU, we struggled to keep our scopes standing upright
in the wind, but in viewing the waters to the west we found RED-BREASTED
MEGANSER, CANVASBACK, REDHEAD, BUFFLEHEAD, AMERICAN WIGEON, AMERICAN WHITE
PELICAN, TUNDRA SWAN, RUDDY DUCK, LESSER SCAUP, BALD EAGLE, and more!
Our trip ended there as we went our separate ways at that
point.? However, it was not the end for
two of us?
A fateful cell phone call came from Mike Denny and two of
the group quickly stopped our treks homeward and reversed direction back to 9
Mile Canyon Road as the large flock of redpolls had been found.? Gladly, upon arrival, we found nearly 300
COMMON REDPOLLS feeding in the weedy margins of the fields along the road.? And within that group were at least two
separate HOARY REDPOLLS!? A challenge it
was to locate the Hoary Redpolls as the wind was blowing and the flock was
moving.? Most amazing was a Common
Redpoll flying in and grasping onto my car?s radio antennae just a few feet
away from me.? I?ll gladly give up
bananas for a redpoll any day!
A HUGE thank you to all the field trip participants that
helped me find birds on this great trip.? Also, thank you for the great company and camaraderie.
?
Tim O?Brien